Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Achi is a regular, shy, boring office employee, whose life changes when he develops magical powers on his 30th birthday – he can read people’s mind when he touches them! Based on the hit Japanese manga “Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!”, this Thai adaptation stars New Thitipoom Techa-apaikhun and Tay Tawan Vihokratana as leads Achi and Karan.
Directed by X Nuttapong Mongkolsawas, “Cherry Magic” is spread over 12 episodes, much like it’s Japanese counter-part, but the duration of each edition is twice as long – almost one hour each. The first few episodes are quite faithful to the original source material, complete with the hilarious encounter between Achi and office heartthrob Karan in the lift, where Achi for the first time gets to know the latter may have a crush on him.
When the trailer had come out for the series, I felt like the creators should’ve gone for a fresh pairing, like Eiji Akaso and Keita Machida who played leads Adachi and Kurosowa in the Japanese romantic-comedy. However, New Thitipoom Techa-apaikhun and Tay Tawan Vihokratana, who’ve already proven their chemistry in earlier shows, do grow on the viewer as Achi and Karan. Ployshompoo Supasap plays their colleague Pai, who secretly roots for their romance. Meanwhile, another sub-plot focuses on Achi’s author best-friend Jinta (Panachai Sriariyarungruang), who begins to fall for a delivery boy called Min (Jiruntanin Trairattanayon). Achi and Jinta’s friendship is comedic and cute, as the buddies rely on each other for all sorts of advice, especially when it comes to romance.
As the Thai show progresses, many differences between the original and this adaptation emerge. While a lot of the changes work within the Thai cultural context, I was disappointed with Pai’s arc. While Ployshompoo Supasap is adorable as Achi’s office friend Pai, her character’s story feels contrived and overly cheesy. Harit Cheewagaro portrays Rock, a newcomer in the office who admires Achi and begins to develop feelings for Pai. Thus, there are essentially three romantic plots running parallel in “Cherry Magic”. A bit much.
The cinematography for “Cherry Magic” is colorful, cheery, and makes for a pleasant viewing experience, although, like a lot of GMMTV shows, the ad placements can be a bit glaringly obvious and awkward. I have mixed feelings about the music; sometimes it works in highlighting the mood of the moment, other times it dampens a scene that could’ve been a lot funnier if the creators had used the right kind of beats in the background. In the Japanese series, a weird, wacky church-choir-like music would play every time Adachi would glimpse the innermost thoughts of his crush, but in the Thai “Cherry Magic”, the music when Achi sees something is very forgettable (I’ve already forgotten the tune, but I remember the Japanese one very well). However, the piano music that accompanies Achi and Karan’s romantic exchanges is very calming and pleasing.
While I really enjoyed the first half of “Cherry Magic,” the pace slackens in the second half, and a lot of it also has to do with the plot hitting a plateau. Once Achi and Karan begin to date, the creators don’t give viewers any humorous moments between the two, except for an unintentional comedic moment where the two high-five each other in a romantic moment, behaving like “bros” instead of boyfriends. That said, the Thai series is surprisingly not as stingy as its Japanese counterpart (it did not feature a single kiss between the lead pair) when it comes to passion between the couple, so there are a few kisses, yet, the gradual proximity between Achi and Karan plays out very awkwardly.
Overall, Thai series “Cherry Magic” is a very cute, sweet Romantic series, which might get boring for some viewers, since it steers clear of too much drama, negativity, but at the same time, it doesn’t even have the same amount of “laugh out loud” scenes like the Japanese manga it is based on. So if you are looking for steady, romantic-show with good-looking leads, it’s a pretty good pick for the weekend.
Rating: 7 on 10.
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